CTV

Google still brings in the big bucks, but its costs are skyrocketing as well as the digital media giant pushes its way into TV advertising. First, the basics. Alphabet brought in $39.3 billion in Q4 2018, up 23% from the same period the year before, the company disclosed in its quarterly earnings report on Monday. […]

Taptica will acquire RhythmOne for $176 million in an all-stock deal, the companies said Monday. The mobile ad tech firm also gets a matryoshka doll of assets along with RhythmOne, including assets from the latter’s previous acquisitions of YuMe, Burst Media and parts of RadiumOne. Taptica characterized the deal as a bid for connected televison […]

Hulu viewers will soon start seeing ads when they hit pause on a show. Coca-Cola and Charmin are on tap to test the so-called pause ads, which allow advertisers to run static display ads on screen when viewers take a break. The ads, in development for most of 2018, will roll out with beta advertisers […]

Traditional broadcasters might soon bridge linear and digital ad buying. But first, baby steps. Before anyone reaches that holy grail, it helps if the ad inventory is trafficked through the same system. So in the spirit of unification, the video ad server FreeWheel said Wednesday that it will handle decisioning for NBCUniversal’s digital and linear […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Down, But Still Substantial Verizon’s media biz dropped 5.8% YoY in Q4 2018 – bringing it to “only” $2.1 billion in the quarter. Verizon Media (née Oath) has disappointed this year. “Certainly, when you see -6.9% revenue growth in 3Q and -5.8% in 4Q, […]

Marketers have a lot to contend with in 2019. Heads are spinning with thoughts of consumer-driven privacy concerns, different regulations in different regions, Apple blocking third-party tracking on Safari and how to buy TV in a world of digital delivery. At AdExchanger’s Industry Preview conference Thursday, Google’s vice president of ad platforms Sean Downey considered […]

Cords are getting cut left and right, but TV still works … right? “We all know that TV does drive ROI, but there haven’t really been any proof points like there has been in digital,” said Donna Speciale, Turner’s president of advertising sales, at AdExchanger’s Industry Preview event in New York City on Wednesday. That’s […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Up The Funnel Amazon is giving marketers buying its Sponsored Brand Ads on its platform more insight into the consumers purchasing their products. Amazon released metrics this month that allow marketers to see how many Amazon purchases were made by people who had never […]

Remember when Hulu opened its automated private marketplace at the beginning of 2019? Turns out Telaria is the vendor that’s powering it. As part of a two-year deal, Hulu will use Telaria’s tech to enable its PMP for advertising across all screens, the video ad platform said Wednesday – from the big one in the […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Viacom Nabs Pluto Viacom will acquire free, ad-supported streaming service Pluto TV for $340 million. The standalone app, which reaches 12 million monthly users primarily on connected TVs, will give Viacom a new audience to sell and a distribution channel for its content library. […]

“On TV And Video” is a column exploring opportunities and challenges in advanced TV and video. Today’s column is written by Brian Lee, director of programmatic strategy at Cadreon. I’m a digital guy and I will be the first to admit that TV is very powerful and should be the foundation of the marketing plan […]

Attention, broadcasters, SVOD services and tech companies in the midst of launching a streaming subscription service (or thinking about it): Netflix doesn’t consider you to be competition. “We compete so broadly with all of these different providers that any one provider entering only makes a difference on the margin,” Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said Thursday […]

As Twitter’s video ad business grows, so does the amount of user-generated content on its platform. The challenge for Twitter, and brands that advertise on it, is to keep brands safe from, well, the Internet. In April 2018, 50% of Twitter’s business came from video advertising – and that still holds true today. In Q1 […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Snap Safety Some marketers have complained about Snapchat brand safety issues now that it’s transitioned to a self-serve ad platform. Last week, an ad directed to a fake news story about Chrissy Teigen promoting weight loss pills, Digiday reports. And last year, an ad […]

NBCU is not getting left in the dust as competitors like Amazon, AT&T and Disney plan their direct-to-consumer (DTC) streaming services. On Monday, the broadcast titan said it will launch its yet-to-be-named streaming service in early 2020. The service will provide ad-supported content to pay-TV subscribers, including 90 million Comcast-connected homes in the United States […]

A weekly comic strip from AdExchanger that highlights the digital advertising ecosystem…

Nielsen went public with ratings for the Netflix hit film “Bird Box” on Tuesday, estimating that the blockbuster (so to speak) attracted 26 million US viewers in its first week. But wait, didn’t Netflix say 45 million accounts watched “Bird Box” in the first seven days? Netflix rarely discloses specific viewership numbers for any content, […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. CTV Sees Green Innovid has raised $30 million to invest in CTV ad serving and measurement products. Goldman Sachs Private Capital Investing Group led the round, bringing Innovid’s total funding to $52.6 million. Innovid has held on to its independent status, which it thinks […]

“On TV And Video” is a column exploring opportunities and challenges in advanced TV and video.  Today’s column is written by Eric Berry, CEO at TripleLift. TV is a fundamental part of any marketer’s mixed media model. For many brands, TV is the highest performing inventory source. Yet the trends are unquestionably negative for TV […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Clear Your Desk The buy-side push for ad tech transparency has changed Xaxis, the GroupM trading desk with a black box ad-buying model. The business has made some concessions, like offering self-service products and disclosing its margins, reports Digiday. Xaxis has also embraced outcome-based […]

A weekly comic strip from AdExchanger that highlights the digital advertising ecosystem…

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. 5G Whiz This year we’ll see the first wave of commercial 5G cellular networks, which will revolutionize smartphones and the Internet. Although the biggest societal benefits of 5G will come in areas such as remote surgery and connected cars, 5G will also be a […]

Over-the-top TV wasn’t invented in 2018, but 2018 was certainly its year. Advertising on over-the-top (OTT) was one of the hot-button issues at Dmexco, Advertising Week and other major conferences this year – for good reason. Content providers, DSPs and others in the industry are seeing explosive growth in this sector of their businesses. The […]

If you had “something blockchain related” on your Christmas list this year (And really, who didn’t?), then consider Comcast Cable Advertising your very own Santa Claus. Comcast Corporation’s ad division unveiled Blockgraph on Friday, designed to help media owners and advertisers securely share data for addressable TV advertising. Blockgraph is winding down its pilot phase […]

“On TV And Video” is a column exploring opportunities and challenges in advanced TV and video.  Today’s column is written by Lindsey Harju, co-founder at Blinc Digital Group. 2018 may look similar to years past, with cross-channel acquisitions a seemingly regular occurrence. But for me, 2018 will stand out in the history of advanced TV […]

“The Sell Sider” is a column written for the sell side of the digital media community.  Today’s column is written by Amihai Ulman, founder and chief operating officer at MASS Exchange. Unlike addressable media, linear TV publishers cannot sell single impressions or single units of attention. Due to its linear nature, TV publishers must sell mixed […]

A Nielsen survey released Thursday suggests esports watchers are a prime target for advertisers, but old strategies won’t work on them. The 2018 Nielsen Esports Fan Insights report includes behavior data from hundreds of esports gamers collected over the last year. These fans watched and participated in games like “League of Legends,” “Overwatch League,” “Fortnite” […]

On Jan. 1, 2019, Hulu will release an automated private marketplace that will allow advertisers to bid on Hulu inventory without going through the additional steps of working with Hulu’s sales team. Instead, advertisers can use their own DSPs or trading desks to plug into the marketplace. The PMP will initially house standard 30-second spots, […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. No More Safety Net Netflix shares are down more than a third over the past six months as investors worry about its debt and high costs. Netflix built its position in OTT with few competitors (HBO and Amazon Prime were pretty much it) – but […]

“On TV And Video” is a column exploring opportunities and challenges in advanced TV and video. Today’s column is written by Matt Prohaska, principal and CEO at Prohaska Consulting. When I was 24, I resigned from a great job at BBDO to become the first New York salesperson at upstart media company CNET. When people asked […]